The East Waterway is an active navigation channel that services Terminals 18, 25, and 30 at the Port of Seattle.  The East Waterway is also an Operable Unit of the Harbor Island Superfund (CERCLA) Site.  The Port is conducting remediation and deepening of the waterway in several phases.  The Port and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) worked in partnership during Stage 1 to deepen portions of the waterway under the Corps’ 404 process.  Stage 1 included dredging 126,000 cubic yards (cy) of clean sediment and 86,000 cy of contaminated sediment.  During the Phase 1 Removal Action, the Port conducted sediment remediation under Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Non-Time Critical Removal Action (NTCRA) process per CERCLA.  Phase 1 cleanup involved 200,000 cy of contaminated sediment plus 60,000 cy of sediment suitable for open-water disposal.  Additional phases of cleanup are ongoing.

Anchor QEA is the Port’s design consultant and provides project management, remedial design, permitting support, environmental consulting, and construction management services for this project.  Key technical tasks that Anchor QEA has performed include: sediment characterization; water quality and contaminant mobility evaluation; geotechnical studies; remedial design for dredging and disposal; plans/specifications/cost estimates (PS&E); nearshore confined disposal facility (NCDF) preliminary design; closed bucket feasibility study; construction oversight; and NTCRA documentation including Engineering Evaluation/Cost Analysis (EE/CA), Removal Design Report, Construction Quality Assurance Plan (CQAP), and Water Quality Monitoring Quality Assurance Project Plan (QAPP).  Anchor QEA also assists the Port in coordinating with appropriate federal, state, and local resource agencies.

For more information on this project, please contact Tom Wang at twang@anchorqea.com.